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[Dead] Brockton Gaming [Worm/The Gamer (SV)]

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    • Taylor fell, but it was… just so calming, comfortable, and before I hit the platform face first, she… something within her shifted and she flipped backwards landing on my feet. Only to stop in her tracks blinking at the image.

    The image of a fox person.
    Kitsune​
    A… Kitsune, the word just… floating into her head. It… she wore a pair of black baggy shorts that ended below the knee, black combat boots. Above the waist was a cami top with an exposed back, and strange detached sleeves billowing and she swung the strange Key… from… the last image?

    Why did she look so much like her? And… if she was supposed to he a Hero, where was her mask? What about the images around the edge? People? They were all shrouded in shadows, the only one visible was her father.

    What did that mean?

    "Be careful! There will be times where you have to fight. Even here, there is darkness. But there are things that even darkness fears." The words more than the strange voice still being present, was what caused Taylor to snap to attention.

    It was just in time too, as a shadow coalesced into a small pool of darkness… Darkness.

    Taking a half step forward, she fell into a familiar stance, even as she watched the… thing rise from the ground.

    It… it was adorable. To the point she wanted a plushy of it, adorable. It's little ant like body, it's wobbly entina, little grabby hands… and oversized feet. The glowing button like eyes.

    Then it lunged at her, and the glowing feeling of affection shattered.

    Without really thinking, Taylor stepped into the lung and brought her sword up in a rising slash. "जलाना{Jalaana}"

    Striking the… well, she couldn't stop thinking of them as adorable shadows. It's what they were. So, striking the adorable shadow, her blade was followed by wrathful flames. Spreading out and incinerating the little thing.

    "Not all darkness is evil, not all light is good. But- Behind you!"

    Spinning around, Taylor found herself taking a step back in revulsion. These… these things… They were covered in jagged, almost organic looking iron, and held a crude iron short sword in each hand. With jittery bug like moments, there hunched over forms lunged at her as one.

    Something was wrong, something was… these things felt wrong, evil beyond words. Corrupt, tainted… twisted into something… just wrong.

    "Twisted and Corrupt. This is the fate of those who succumb to the tainted darkness. Pity them not, for they are beyond help."

    Bringing her sword up to block one of the… things these… these Corrupt. Taylor made the mistake of fully committing to a defence against one opponent when there were three.

    The other two rushed in just behind the first, striking at her legs and her midriff.

    Letting out a cry of pain, Taylor jumped back, and was surprised to find herself sailing a good yard backwards.

    The moment she landed, she dashed forward. Invocation on her lips. "जलाना{Jalaana}" But this time… this time, she held a completely different intent behind those words.

    The battered steel of her sword began to glow as if left in a fire, before actually bursting into flames… and then she was among these Corrupt again.

    She struck at the closest only for the thing to jump back avoiding the blow, while another jittered in to strike at her.

    This time however, this time, she was ready for it, and with a rolling movement of her shoulders brought the blade around to stab into this abomination.

    The moment her blade pierced the thing, the platform they were on shattered and she fell.

    She fell, hurtling through… worlds, and she watched as she fell. Taylor watched, and was amazed. There were so many worlds, so many people.

    And then she crashed through water, finding herself flipping again to be dissenting feet first.

    Landing, Taylor found herself on the roof of a building, the Triumvirate standing evenly spread apart on it.

    Warrily, she looked around. But nothing was happening, and with how she got here… she still had to be in that… in this power thing right?

    With that in mind, Taylor bit her lip, but headed over to Alexandria.

    As a child, she had alway wanted to be like the hero… to be a hero. Alexandria was her idol.

    "What are you most afraid of?" The words came out… not flat, but without emotion. Empty somehow.

    And, Taylor froze. A year ago… a year ago she would have said Sophia… but… Sophia had just stopped being a problem. No, there was little she feared anymore. Not because she was powerful or without fear. No, it was because she just didn't see the point.

    "Being alone."

    Tilting her head in speculation, not-Alexandria replied, "Is it really that bad?"

    Taylor went to reply, but something in the stillness of this not-Alexandria told her it would not respond no matter what she said.

    With a huff of annoyance, she moved on to Eidolon. Or, not-Eidolon. He watched her approach, visibly turning his head as he did.

    Looking at him, Taylor nodded to signal her readiness.

    "What do you want most out of life?"

    This was a question she had pondered long and often, so with a sharp nod, Taylor replied. "To be a Hero."

    There seemed to be a quizzical air about not-Eidolon, "Is being a hero really that important?"

    Frowning, Taylor couldn't help but ponder that. Was it?

    With those thoughts in her head, she approached the last figure, the not-Legend.

    "What is most important to you?" This question was spoken with almost real emotion behind it. Legends… legendary cheer making itself known even from this not-him, though it was a shadow of a shadow.

    With no deliberation, Taylor responded, "Family."

    Not-Legend nodded approvingly, but there was a long silence

    "You fear being alone."
    "You want to be a Hero."
    "And Family is the most important thing to you."
    "You journey starts in the dead of night, keep strong and the stars will guide your way."

    "My… what?" Taylor was forced to shield her eyes as a brilliant light enveloped her.
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Gotta love that gooey grayness that is Worm nobody truly good and nobody purely evil(except for coil hes pure dickness incarnate)
     
    I find myself needing an 'Active discussion makes the writer happy' tag. But anyways, I need some help so I can get back to writing the actual story.

    You guys willing to help?

    So, I need the following skills fluffed out a bit. Though I am avoiding giving specific stats. We don't need to spend forever managing them. I have two kinds of Skills. Passive, and Active.

    Passive skills are things that boost your ability to do things, or modify it in some way to be better.

    Active skills are just that. Special attacks, magic, what have you.

    I have these Passives and this active. If someone would please fluff it out, I will give them a Major boon for Taylor. Additionally other skills are welcome as well, and will save me time and effort. (and potentially earn minor boons)

    Passive:
    • Danger Sense: You have near precognition which allows you to determine threats.
    • Swordsman: You are proficient with single handed weapons.
    • Dual Wielding: You can easily wield two weapons.
    • Defenders Stance: You are well versed with the use of shields.
    • Artful Dodger: You can adept at avoiding attacks.
    • Sprinter: You can run at high speeds for longer than normal.
    • Sneak: You are good at hiding.
    • Search: You have an eye for detail.
    Active:
    • Magic: You have a firm grasp on the art esoteric. (While this is based off of Dresden Files, it is not so exact. for example it doesn't interfere with Tech.)

    Thanks you for helping.

    PS
    Unsure if Swordsman, Dual Wielding, Defenders Stance should really be kept.
     
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    Boon mechanics
  • Threadmarks
    • Boons, and how I'm handling them.

    Boons come in 2 types. Major Boons and Minor Boons.

    Major boons can be used to send Taylor a message at any time between chapters, force an interlude, or insure she gets better loot from a fight.
    Edit: Messages must be under 75 words in length.

    Minor boons can be used to Poke a character in a direction (out side of chapters, not retroactive), or five minor boons can be traded in for 1 major boon.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    I will take interludes (submitted via PM for review) for a minor boon (or more depending on quality and content).
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Boons earned:

    Major Boons:
    @Spectrum x1

    Minor Boons:
    @Trooper1023 x1
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • Danger-sense-Some say this is another version of what is used by a man after a spider... and it probably is but that doesn't matter.
    allows for the sensing of anytype physical danger that could befall you.
    Is that what you meant by fluff?(sorry if it's bad i've never done this before)
     
    Kerashana said:
    So, I need the following skills fluffed out a bit. Though I am avoiding giving specific stats. We don't need to spend forever managing them. I have two kinds of Skills. Passive, and Active.

    Passive skills are things that boost your ability to do things, or modify it in some way to be better.

    Active skills are just that. Special attacks, magic, what have you.

    I have these Passives and this active. If someone would please fluff it out, I will give them a Major boon for Taylor. Additionally other skills are welcome as well, and will save me time and effort. (and potentially earn minor boons)
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    *wanders in after binging*

    Can you expand more on what you mean specifically by fluffed out? Are you looking for flavor? Are you looking for skill tiers? How is the skill system intended to work? Skill evolutions? Skills unlocking others at a certain level? How are 'necessary secondary skills' covered? (Ex: If this was Naruto, some sort of Chakra sense is all but given after trying any sort of Chakra manipulation else you have no idea what you're actually doing)
     
    Spectrum said:
    *wanders in after binging*

    Can you expand more on what you mean specifically by fluffed out? Are you looking for flavor? Are you looking for skill tiers? How is the skill system intended to work? Skill evolutions? Skills unlocking others at a certain level? How are 'necessary secondary skills' covered? (Ex: If this was Naruto, some sort of Chakra sense is all but given after trying any sort of Chakra manipulation else you have no idea what you're actually doing)
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    *Winces* Yeah, ok...

    So, I'm not sure. Mostly the skills are things that Taylor will either learn by attempting, or more esoteric ones she will get from accomplishing things.

    'Magic' Probably needs to be reworked from what it is right now. It is the passive ability to sense magic (There is none in canon worm)
    the active ability to do things. Intent based spells.

    But anyways, what I mean for Fluff is 3 parts flavor, 1 part description. Or something like that. Mostly I'm forgoing actual mechanics for writing and working off of what the skill gives, so maybe a 'Novice, Journeymen, Expert, Master' type of ranking for the skills. I don't want to bog down the story too much with mechanics, that's what happened to 'Death Game Taylor' Which I would like to get back to... eventually but if I do it will be a full rewrite.

    So, other wise, build me a skill system and I'll use it, though I might tweak it, or just fluff skills and give me additional skills. Some will be given immediately some held in reserve, some discarded.

    That explained better? If not, give me some specific questions and I'll give you rambling answers.

    CHEERS!
     
    Swordsman- Congratulations! You can swing a sword dosn`t matter what type. Just that you can swing and or stab with a sword with the best of them... well maybe one day.
    The ability to use swords of all types[is there a heavy sword class or short-sword class?]

    Dual weilding-You my fine young(or old) friend can swing two swords with out making your self look like a idoit not many can do that so take heart.
    The capabilty to use two swords at the same time with out any penalties.

    Defenders Stance-Wow you are capable of picking up a peice of metal or wood and blocking with you much be the envy of all fighters.
    The abilty to use a shild competently.

    Artful Dodger-Great you can roll duck weave and jump out of the way of attacks a extremely useful abiltys in about 75% of all situations.
    Allows for the use of evastion when either physical attacks or area of effect abilitys.
     
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    Got it. I'll take a short stab at it and let others either continue or refute or just leave it and I'll circle back to it sooner or later.
    Kerashana said:
    • Swordsman: You are proficient with single handed weapons.
    • Dual Wielding: You can easily wield two weapons.
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    So, couple ways to handle this:
    1) You could have generic 1H Weapon, 2H Weapon, and DW skills and -then- specific weapon class skills to represent weapon classes (Swords, Axes, Hammers, etc). Lots of passives, but retains flexibility for the user.
    2) You could specifically call out 1H Sword, 2H Spear, 2H Club and so on. Removes a few skills but the downside is that using a 2H Club apparently didn't give you anything at all for using any other 2H Weapon, which doesn't quite feel right to me.

    Unlocking: So, could inherit the SAO system where you have to walk through the basic skills of 1H Sword before getting to the cool stuff of 1H Curved Sword and from there to Katana (2, basically) or you could just work it more a D&D type thing where she gets better at using any weapon that would fit into that type but she might not know the nuances of how a specific class works best (1).

    Top end skills could all be flavored to call out some specific person. Ex:
    Katana (Master): You could match Musashi Miyamoto himself in a duel.
    Spear (Master): Yukimura Sanada at his peak couldn't beat you.
    Halberd (Master): Amongst horses, Red Hare. Amongst men? You.

    of course, sometimes just feel like taking the piss:
    Dual Wielding (overall description): The ancestral art of the dark elves, who weave a deadly dance of paired weapons.
    ->Novice: You've taken your first steps past just being a moody teenager into actual knowledge, congratulations!

    Kerashana said:
    • Defenders Stance: You are well versed with the use of shields.
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    Probably break this into Light Shields and Heavy Shields...or really along the lines of what I suggested above for weapons, there being this as a generic "use shield" skill and then some specialist subskills.

    1H Swords + Light Shields could open up Swashbuckling as a dedicated passive, which gives certain other additional benefits. 1H Spear + Heavy Shields gives Hoplite, 1H Swords + Heavy Shields gives Legionnaire.

    Kerashana said:
    • Sneak: You are good at hiding.
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    Split this off into Hide and Move Silently, which do what you would expect. Hide then combines with Disguise to unlock Hide in Plain Sight at a certain point. At some point, perhaps on Mastery of all relevant skills, they can recombine into Infiltrate or something of that nature that saves slots (if that's a thing) and then offers more benefits and a higher tier of learning above the basic Mastery of each.

    Kerashana said:
    • Magic: You have a firm grasp on the art esoteric. (While this is based off of Dresden Files, it is not so exact. for example it doesn't interfere with Tech.)
    Click to expand...
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    Okay, so this is what I was talking about with Skill Evolution. I think actually this one could be kept unique to start to properly simulate 'magic'. That's what it just starts off as and she gets gains for any generic task involving magic. At some low level, it actualizes into Mana Sensing (passive) and Mana Manipulation (active). From there spins out into Enchantment, Illusion, Evocation if you want that system or Fire Manip, Untyped, Lightning Manip or Internal (Body) Mana Manip and External...well, you get the picture. Basically, it starts off as broad, flexible, and mysterious as possible and Taylor has to effectively shape her own skill tree through her own understanding and conceptualization of Magic.

    ---

    I'll stop here to await feedback before wasting effort running off onto a tangent you think is dumb.
     
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    Sprinter-you can run seriously what did you expect some joke or somthing?
    The ability to run and or sprint at varying speeds.

    Sneak-like a shadow in the night you stalk past people right under there noses...sometimes quite literally at a high enogh level you may even be able to hide in a box while crawling.
    The abilty to move or just plain out be stealthily allowing the abilty to hide or move with out drawing suspicion.

    Search-I spy with my little eye somthing shiny and green it also has pointy ears and a hook nose... Hey wait a second...OH SH-
    The ablity to notice somthing intersting and or useful be it a ambush or a bag of gold.
     
    Spectrum said:
    Got it. I'll take a short stab at it and let others either continue or refute or just leave it and I'll circle back to it sooner or later.

    So, couple ways to handle this:
    1) You could have generic 1H Weapon, 2H Weapon, and DW skills and -then- specific weapon class skills to represent weapon classes (Swords, Axes, Hammers, etc). Lots of passives, but retains flexibility for the user.
    2) You could specifically call out 1H Sword, 2H Spear, 2H Club and so on. Removes a few skills but the downside is that using a 2H Club apparently didn't give you anything at all for using any other 2H Weapon, which doesn't quite feel right to me.

    Unlocking: So, could inherit the SAO system where you have to walk through the basic skills of 1H Sword before getting to the cool stuff of 1H Curved Sword and from there to Katana (2, basically) or you could just work it more a D&D type thing where she gets better at using any weapon that would fit into that type but she might not know the nuances of how a specific class works best (1).

    Top end skills could all be flavored to call out some specific person. Ex:
    Katana (Master): You could match Musashi Miyamoto himself in a duel.
    Spear (Master): Yukimura Sanada at his peak couldn't beat you.
    Halberd (Master): Amongst horses, Red Hare. Amongst men? You.

    of course, sometimes just feel like taking the piss:
    Dual Wielding (overall description): The ancestral art of the dark elves, who weave a deadly dance of paired weapons.
    ->Novice: You've taken your first steps past just being a moody teenager into actual knowledge, congratulations!


    Probably break this into Light Shields and Heavy Shields...or really along the lines of what I suggested above for weapons, there being this as a generic "use shield" skill and then some specialist subskills.

    1H Swords + Light Shields could open up Swashbuckling as a dedicated passive, which gives certain other additional benefits. 1H Spear + Heavy Shields gives Hoplite, 1H Swords + Heavy Shields gives Legionnaire.


    Split this off into Hide and Move Silently, which do what you would expect. Hide then combines with Disguise to unlock Hide in Plain Sight at a certain point. At some point, perhaps on Mastery of all relevant skills, they can recombine into Infiltrate or something of that nature that saves slots (if that's a thing) and then offers more benefits and a higher tier of learning above the basic Mastery of each.


    Okay, so this is what I was talking about with Skill Evolution. I think actually this one could be kept unique to start to properly simulate 'magic'. That's what it just starts off as and she gets gains for any generic task involving magic. At some low level, it actualizes into Mana Sensing (passive) and Mana Manipulation (active). From there spins out into Enchantment, Illusion, Evocation if you want that system or Fire Manip, Untyped, Lightning Manip or Internal (Body) Mana Manip and External...well, you get the picture. Basically, it starts off as broad, flexible, and mysterious as possible and Taylor has to effectively shape her own skill tree through her own understanding and conceptualization of Magic.

    ---

    I'll stop here to await feedback before wasting effort running off onto a tangent you think is dumb.
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    Yes?

    Ok, I'm causing myself problems here. Let me explain, the reason I'm not making a whole system is because I'm used to running PnP and... well, it's a pain. This is how I relax. Setting up a game is not relaxing.

    THAT SAID! I like these ideas. I'm going with slots but haven't nailed down the exact amount. At start I'm thinking 1 active and 4 passive. But maybe drop passive slots and just have them skills. Let them build up and so on. On the other hand, something like Swordsman (1 handed weapon skill) might have a single sub slot after say journeymen is reached? This allows for a weapon specialization skill to be slotted?

    It seems like a good idea, but anyone who had DMed known that doesn't mean it IS a good idea. Also, keep in mind, Tay has a Keyblade. this means she will get an epic skill (passive?) for Keyblade proficiency and use. I'm still feeling this part out.

    Advice would help. Thread activity motivates me to write.
     
    Kerashana said:
    THAT SAID! I like these ideas. I'm going with slots but haven't nailed down the exact amount. At start I'm thinking 1 active and 4 passive. But maybe drop passive slots and just have them skills. Let them build up and so on. On the other hand, something like Swordsman (1 handed weapon skill) might have a single sub slot after say journeymen is reached? This allows for a weapon specialization skill to be slotted?
    Click to expand...
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    Okay, tell you what, let's take a step back then. How married are you to Canon!SAO's skill system? It should be well known by now that SAO has a very archaic system for an MMO/game system. You seem to have already moved away from it somewhat by splitting into passives and actives...but recall that in SAO you get new auto-moves from advancing higher in the skill. Is that not intended with these versions? What else do you conceive as actives to compete with Magic, since it's not physicals right now? Did you actually want to make the weapon specializations be the actives while the generic styles are the passives? (Or vice versa.)

    It feels like things are getting a little convoluted at that point, even stripping away a lot of the stuff I proposed.

    If you're married to skills and to having limited active slots, then at that point I feel like Skill Evolution for everything is the most elegant. For example, she starts with 1H Sword, at a certain point the skill itself evolves into 1H Straight or 1H Curved, then from 1H Curved into Scimitar or Katana or whatever. Yes, that locks her into whatever she picked, but that's fine, plenty of games do that anyway.

    The other main problem is that it's very hard/nigh impossible to really do justice to Magic and flesh it out in a vaguely balanced fashion while you're locked into a limited skill slot system unless you make it overly broad within a given skill (or as the only skill)...at which point Magic is its usual silly kinda wanked self and there's no reason to do anything but Magic. (Even ALO already broke things out into various flavors of Elemental Magic and only seemed to have a relatively limited repertoire. If we're trying to present Useful Skills for Real Life, well...)

    Kerashana said:
    It seems like a good idea, but anyone who had DMed known that doesn't mean it IS a good idea. Also, keep in mind, Tay has a Keyblade. this means she will get an epic skill (passive?) for Keyblade proficiency and use. I'm still feeling this part out.
    Click to expand...
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    To throw another wrinkle into this, recall that there are -a lot- of ways to wield a Keyblade, really. There are some universal aspects, but everyone still had their own way of doing things (some 2H speedy attackers, some more 1H classic swordsmen, some who are using it as a wizard implement to shoot mainly, and so on).
     
    Spectrum said:
    Okay, tell you what, let's take a step back then. How married are you to Canon!SAO's skill system? It should be well known by now that SAO has a very archaic system for an MMO/game system. You seem to have already moved away from it somewhat by splitting into passives and actives...but recall that in SAO you get new auto-moves from advancing higher in the skill. Is that not intended with these versions? What else do you conceive as actives to compete with Magic, since it's not physicals right now? Did you actually want to make the weapon specializations be the actives while the generic styles are the passives? (Or vice versa.)

    It feels like things are getting a little convoluted at that point, even stripping away a lot of the stuff I proposed.

    If you're married to skills and to having limited active slots, then at that point I feel like Skill Evolution for everything is the most elegant. For example, she starts with 1H Sword, at a certain point the skill itself evolves into 1H Straight or 1H Curved, then from 1H Curved into Scimitar or Katana or whatever. Yes, that locks her into whatever she picked, but that's fine, plenty of games do that anyway.

    The other main problem is that it's very hard/nigh impossible to really do justice to Magic and flesh it out in a vaguely balanced fashion while you're locked into a limited skill slot system unless you make it overly broad within a given skill (or as the only skill)...at which point Magic is its usual silly kinda wanked self and there's no reason to do anything but Magic. (Even ALO already broke things out into various flavors of Elemental Magic and only seemed to have a relatively limited repertoire. If we're trying to present Useful Skills for Real Life, well...)


    To throw another wrinkle into this, recall that there are -a lot- of ways to wield a Keyblade, really. There are some universal aspects, but everyone still had their own way of doing things (some 2H speedy attackers, some more 1H classic swordsmen, some who are using it as a wizard implement to shoot mainly, and so on).
    Click to expand...
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    Then give her one style of using the keyblade prehaps a mix between magic use and one handed swordsmanship(a paldin?).
     
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    Spectrum, ok. You make some good points. I think I was falling into a trap of my own making with Active/Passive skills as I had though of it. So instead, lets keep the classic SAO slot and skill system (mostly?) it was the engine chosen by popular vote (Grumble, grumble). So... what would be a good starter number of slots? 3, 7, 13? Yes, I'm using these numbers on purpose.

    As for Magic... leave it vague. It is an out side skill not an SAO thing so it just shows Tays capacity with it? I think that sounds good... but maybe not?

    As for the keyblade, lets leave that an Epic skill that has it's own slot. And, much like magic it will be the metric that dictates ability with the keyblade. (not really having any but needs to exist as far as game mechanics go?)

    The style of combat I will be using will be a fluid mix of one handed swordsmanship, magic, and shenanigans as they arrive. It is a Sword Mage... basically.
     
    Kerashana said:
    Spectrum, ok. You make some good points. I think I was falling into a trap of my own making with Active/Passive skills as I had though of it. So instead, lets keep the classic SAO slot and skill system (mostly?) it was the engine chosen by popular vote (Grumble, grumble). So... what would be a good starter number of slots? 3, 7, 13? Yes, I'm using these numbers on purpose.

    As for Magic... leave it vague. It is an out side skill not an SAO thing so it just shows Tays capacity with it? I think that sounds good... but maybe not?

    As for the keyblade, lets leave that an Epic skill that has it's own slot. And, much like magic it will be the metric that dictates ability with the keyblade. (not really having any but needs to exist as far as game mechanics go?)

    The style of combat I will be using will be a fluid mix of one handed swordsmanship, magic, and shenanigans as they arrive. It is a Sword Mage... basically.
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    7 sounds like a magic number so im gunna go with that.
     
    You know since you using the SAO system you should make some referances to the SAO abridged series because it is hilarious.
     
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